Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Forum emphasizes BRI cooperation between China and Arab countries
Rights to lower sleeper berths should be softened by empathy for fellow passengers
Sunday
- Subscribe
Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Cooling house sales while growing apace
By Wang Yaguang |
May 21, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CONCERN that cracks are appearing in China's economy have rattled the Asian markets.
China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slumped 5.07 percent Monday to a 12-month low of 2,559.93. The index has declined almost 20 percent in the past month on concerns about government measures to rein in the property market and about the Eurozone debt crisis.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 2.14 percent to 19,715.2. Japan's Nikkei-225 index fell 2.17 percent, or 226.75 points, to 10,235.76.
China posted an 11.9-percent increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter this year, accelerating from 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Some analysts believe China's economy is on track to slow down as the impact of the massive economic stimulus package wears off, measures to cool the red-hot property market increase, and the fallout from the Greek debt crisis threatens global recovery.
Economic growth in the first quarter might be the highest quarterly rise for China this year, said Zhuang Jian, senior economist with the Asian Development Bank, during a talk show Monday on CNC World, Xinhua's global satellite news television service. He expected China's GDP to increase 9.6 percent this year from 2009.
The slowdown was evident in industrial value-added output, a main indicator of manufacturing activity, where growth slowed to 17.8 percent in April from a year earlier, down from year-on-year increase of 18.1 percent in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
China last month unveiled a series of measures to tame the property market, including more restrictive down payment requirements, higher mortgage rates, a ban on lending for third home purchases, and increased scrutiny of developers' financing.
These measures would help check soaring housing prices and contribute to a decline in home sales, especially in some major cities, UBS Securities economist Wang Tao said in a note issued to clients.
Even after these policies, average property prices in 70 Chinese major cities jumped 12.8 percent from a year earlier in April, accelerating from March's 11.7 percent rise, according to the NBS statistics. But housing prices are likely to dip at the end of this year, said Cao Honghui, senior researcher with the Institute of Finance and Banking of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, has raised the reserve requirement ratio for banks three times this year in an effort to contain excess liquidity.
To many analysts, the government is unlikely to shift its pro-growth policy stance while tempering the property market and inflation pressures. This is especially true when global uncertainties, particularly the Greek debt crisis, may worsen and threaten China's exports.
(The author is a writer at Xinhua news agency. Shanghai Daily edited the story.)
China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slumped 5.07 percent Monday to a 12-month low of 2,559.93. The index has declined almost 20 percent in the past month on concerns about government measures to rein in the property market and about the Eurozone debt crisis.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 2.14 percent to 19,715.2. Japan's Nikkei-225 index fell 2.17 percent, or 226.75 points, to 10,235.76.
China posted an 11.9-percent increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter this year, accelerating from 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Some analysts believe China's economy is on track to slow down as the impact of the massive economic stimulus package wears off, measures to cool the red-hot property market increase, and the fallout from the Greek debt crisis threatens global recovery.
Economic growth in the first quarter might be the highest quarterly rise for China this year, said Zhuang Jian, senior economist with the Asian Development Bank, during a talk show Monday on CNC World, Xinhua's global satellite news television service. He expected China's GDP to increase 9.6 percent this year from 2009.
The slowdown was evident in industrial value-added output, a main indicator of manufacturing activity, where growth slowed to 17.8 percent in April from a year earlier, down from year-on-year increase of 18.1 percent in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
China last month unveiled a series of measures to tame the property market, including more restrictive down payment requirements, higher mortgage rates, a ban on lending for third home purchases, and increased scrutiny of developers' financing.
These measures would help check soaring housing prices and contribute to a decline in home sales, especially in some major cities, UBS Securities economist Wang Tao said in a note issued to clients.
Even after these policies, average property prices in 70 Chinese major cities jumped 12.8 percent from a year earlier in April, accelerating from March's 11.7 percent rise, according to the NBS statistics. But housing prices are likely to dip at the end of this year, said Cao Honghui, senior researcher with the Institute of Finance and Banking of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, has raised the reserve requirement ratio for banks three times this year in an effort to contain excess liquidity.
To many analysts, the government is unlikely to shift its pro-growth policy stance while tempering the property market and inflation pressures. This is especially true when global uncertainties, particularly the Greek debt crisis, may worsen and threaten China's exports.
(The author is a writer at Xinhua news agency. Shanghai Daily edited the story.)
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
